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Yep, I believe that's correct. I know everything is, but I'm not sure about the GHz/MHz. I think they are in increments of 1000 or whatever. I dunno, maybe people thought an even number would be too easy to remember? Something like the reason they moved around the keyes on a keyboard...

Huh? They moved around the keys on the keyboard? If you're referring to the non-alphabetical order of them, they're setup that way because typewriters used to have them in such a shape...they had to be, since they were actually little stamps that would jump up and hit the paper...that became the standard; they just stuck with it.

It may be 1,024...I always just round it off to 1,000 for the sake of ease. I have no idea what thats the standard, however.

When it all comes down to it everything is stored in bytes which are made up of 8 bits. Following the binary sequence above is the easiest way to deal with it and is why it has stuck for all these years. Even with that though some hard drive manufacturers measure a Megabyte as 1000 kilobytes and a kilobytes as 1000 bytes. This is why your new 45 gigabyte drive only formats to around 41 gigabytes or so. (not doing the math here but you get the point)

Hertz on the other hand is the measure of oscillation in an electrical system. Your processor speed is moderated by a crystal chip (the clock) that oscillates at a set frequency per second and then that frequency is multipled by the multiplier to set the processor speed. Here the byte anology does not apply because your not storing anything but process electrical impulses at a set speed. Hertz is much older than computers dating back to the late 1800's or early 1900's and the current usage is the accepted one.

Huh? They moved around the keys on the keyboard? If you're referring to the non-alphabetical order of them, they're setup that way because typewriters used to have them in such a shape...they had to be, since they were actually little stamps that would jump up and hit the paper...that became the standard; they just stuck with it.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. They had it that way because people could type faster then it could print the letters onto the paper.

TWTCommish: The QWERTY keyboard was designed long ago to be the most inefficient keyboard possible. This was done to aviod key jams that people encountered when typing too quickly. More recently, the DVOARK (something like that) board was invented, and that is supposedly the most efficent way to type.

I'll stick with my QWERTY for now, but I wish computers would make the switch to the more efficent DVOARK.

Inefficient? I dunno...maybe it was...but now, I don't see any turning back. I'd hate to have to learn a new way to type...I've been typing this way for nearly half my life, and I think it would really throw a wrench in things for people like me if we had to change. I personally don't think it would catch on much anyway...

I think it is just like the metric system. Its a much needed change (well the US needs to change to the metric system) but it won't happen any time soon. The US has been changing to the metric system slowly for a long time. Now many more things are metric than they used to be.

Originally posted by Justin S Yep, I believe that's correct. I know everything is, but I'm not sure about the GHz/MHz. I think they are in increments of 1000 or whatever. I dunno, maybe people thought an even number would be too easy to remember? Something like the reason they moved around the keyes on a keyboard...

I believe the "qwerty" keyboard layout was desgined to slow people down... thats right, to make you type slower.

The old typewriters would jam up if you typed too quickly.

Logically the vowels should be directly under your right hand fingers.......

Metric system? What the? Could someone explain. I know a little about it, but obviously many people think it's more efficient.

As for the keyboard...I don't care much either way...I type about 120-130 WPM if I really get in a groove, and typing 10-15 more WPM won't make enough of a difference for me to re-learn how to type and fight what has become second nature to me.

English Standard System
How cups in a Pint? 2
How many Pints in a Quart? 2
How many Quarts in a Gallon? 4

How many inches in a foot? 12
How many feet in a yard? 3
How many yards in a mile? 1760

Now how many inches in a mile? 63360

How many ounces in a pound? 16
How many bales in a ton (goes back to an agrigrarin society)? 125
How many bales in a in a ton? 16
How many pounds in a ton? 2000

Freezing point of Water 32 degrees.
Boiling point of Water 212 degrees.

These are the common forms of measurement and new measurements are rarely added. If you look there is no consistancy.

Metric System
In the metric system the units are smaller allowing for a greater degree of precision without relying on expensive instruments. It is based upon the power of 10. A common scheme upon which our numbering system is based upon. It has a Latin based naming convention which is recognizable by people all over the world whether they know english or not.

Milli = 1000th
Centi = 100th
Kilo = 1000
etc...

So...
a milliliter is 1000th of a liter and equal to a centigram so you can not only measure volume but mass at the same time.
a centiliter is 100th of a liter.
a liter is considered the common point for measuring volume.
a kiloliter is 1000 liters.

a millimeter is 1000th of a meter.
a centimeter is 100th of a meter.
a meter is considered the common point for measuring distance.
a kilometer is 1000 meters.

a gram is considered the common point for measuring mass though a kilogram is more commonly used.

Freezing point of Water? 0 degrees.
Boiling point of Water? 100 degrees.

The metric system is easier to work with because you don't have to remember a bunch of various and arbitrary degrees. You always know that a centi of anything is 100th of what your measuring.

I am surprised you haven't learned the metric system yet. It is fourth grade teaching here in California and it is very important for all science related classes since all scientific and medical work is done in the metric system.

Originally posted by abahta The US is the only country that hasn't converted to the metric system. The US is in the process of slowly converting, much of it is from the influence of other countries.

In my school we never use the American system for measurement of anything whatsoever. Everything, including those endless math story problems ask you how many kilometers Joan has to walk to buy apples and oranges for $.01.

Last year when we went into a ton of detail on measurements we didn't learn a thing about the American system--it was all about the metric system.

So, it IS changing. Slowly but surely...

p.s. did you know that techically you should be saying "jiggabyte" and "jiggaertz" because that G is supposed to be soft. At least that's what Walter Mossberg of WSJ fame said..

Plus, I thought that the keyboard (todays keyboard) was made to be the most logical. But you say it was made to slow people down? And BTW, is todays standard keyboard called what? QWERTY? No matter what you give people evenuatlly they will get good and fast at it. I dont see why we should change though. This keyboard works fine, and there are extremist typers so obviously it works. I always thought it was made this way as it is hte most logical design. But if there is a faster one that would be nice, but I dont see how you could convert people over...

Originally posted by jumpthru
Plus, I thought that the keyboard (todays keyboard) was made to be the most logical. But you say it was made to slow people down?

Here's a short history of the keyboard layout world...

In the 1920s, people were accustomed to the DVORAK key layout. But with the crude keyboards of the typewriters in those days there fingers were getting stuck and keys were falling off like raindrops during a storm because they were typing so fast. The solution? Make an illogical keyboard to slow people down. Well, not very forward-looking but hey, they didn't care. So they eventually switched to QWERTY and we now have that layout for everything.

The solution? While somewhat risky, get pliers and pull off the keys and then arrange them in a DVORAK layout. Tell your OSes you're using a dvorak keyboard and they'll be none the wiser. Here's why that works... (oversimplification)
When you hit the W key, your keyboard sends a "47" signal (example)
Your OS reads your key layout and determines that 47 means W on a qwerty keyboard. But if you have dvorak it looks it up and finds that "47" means V.

That's what I plan to do. It'll increase your computer's physical security, after all who knows how to use a DVORAK besides you and a few people from Madagascar (well, that was an exaggeration, but obviously QWERTYs are by far most popular)? How would you type if you couldn't use the keyboard

I pronounce gigabyte not like jigabyte. I did notice that in the movie Back to the Futre, Doc calls it jigahertz.

I don't think that we should swap keyboards to the new system...I just think that new typists should learn the DVORAK setup rather than the QWERTY setup. It would lead to faster speeds most of the time...that couldn't hurt.

I've never heard it pronounced "jiga-" -- ever. It may technically be right but every tech person I've heard say the word has pronounced it with a hard "g". Is the "jiga" version commonly accepted?

"The solution? While somewhat risky, get pliers and pull off the keys and then arrange them in a DVORAK layout."
If you are desperate to use the DVORAK layout as soon as possible, yeah you could do that. A better way would be to just go ahead and buy a DVORAK keyboard though, and leave your current keyboard intact in case you decide you want to switch back. That is what I would recommend, unless you have a spare keyboard lying around.